Shiv Sena wins over MNS in Mumbai University Senate

Mumbai: Aditya Thackeray, who was recently anointed the young face of Shiv Sena, emerged victorious in the Mumbai University Senate elections, overcoming the challenge of his uncle MNS chief Raj Thackeray and wiping out the dominance of Congress and BJP student wings in varsity polls.

Shiv Sena's student wing won eight out of the total 10 seats of the Senate, an important decision making body of the university.

The Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena (BVS) won all the seats in the reserved category while taking three out of five seats in the general category. The student body of the MNS, Maharashtra
Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS) had to be satisfied with only two seats in the general category.

Abhijit Panse, President of BVS said it is for the first time that any single political party has bagged eight seats in the Senate. Sena youth wing had three members in the earlier
Senate out of which two had crossed over to MNS.

Sena victory is significant as MNS, Nitesh Rane's Swabhiman and Congress had contested the elections together.

The election to Senate was seen as a precursor to all important Mumbai civic polls slated for early 2012. The youth wings of Congress and BJP failed to win a single seat.

In the open category for the Senate, there were 27 candidates and for OBC six candidates while the remaining reserved category had three candidates each.

This election had preferential voting -- that is one has the option of voting for more than one candidate and making every vote count.